Cleveland’s HealthLine, a rapid transit route that spans 6.8 miles, has seen much since success since it opened in 2008. The Southeast Michigan Regional Transit Authority is interested in a similar system.
Photo courtesy/Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority

CLEVELAND — Lewis Mumford, an American sociologist, once suggested we “restore human legs as a means of travel.”

“Pedestrians rely on food for fuel and need no special parking facilities,” Mumford said.
Cleveland, it seems, took note.

Established in 1975, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority has vastly improved public transportation in the region so dramatically that it commonly receives high marks from national groups and observers for making use of its system a breeze.

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For $85 a month, residents can purchase a fare pass that provides access to a web of buses, trains and trolleys that provides service throughout surrounding Cuyahoga County.

At the core, the authority’s HealthLine, a 6.8-mile bus rapid transit route that spans bustling Euclid Avenue in this city’s downtown offers a glimpse of an example that metro Detroit residents could expect from a similarly proposed system the Southeast Michigan Regional Transit Authority has floated in recent months.

Building a bus rapid transit system

Legislation establishing the 10-member Southeast Michigan Regional Transit Authority was signed last year by Gov. Rick Snyder after 23 previously failed attempts by the state legislature since the 1970s.
The authority services Macomb, Oakland, Washtenaw and Wayne counties. It’s comprised of two members from each county, one representative from Detroit and a non-voting member appointed by Snyder that serves as chairman.

John Hertel, the authority’s new CEO, hopes to garner enough support for a proposed 110-mile bus rapid transit system that would span busy corridors including Gratiot, Woodward and Michigan avenues, as well as M-59. Plans also call for a line that connect Detroit and Ann Arbor to the Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

Buses would have the capability to bypass traffic with designated traffic signals and have their own dedicated lanes of travel.

The authority has the ability to issue bonds and also can generate funding by raising vehicle registration fees or levying a property tax, both of which would have to be voter-approved.

The earliest the authority can put a new tax up that would support the system’s construction and operations is the November 2014 election.

When the Cleveland transit authority was formed, voters in the county approved a 1 percent sales tax, said Joseph A. Calabrese, chief executive officer and general manager of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority. The tax accounts for almost 70 percent of its operating funds.

Initial discussions involving regional planning agencies in metro Detroit have focused on implementing a dedicated rapid bus line along Woodward Avenue from Pontiac to downtown Detroit.

Hertel previously told The Oakland Press the “most important part” of his new job is to educate voters on the potential benefits of bus rapid transit, and then convince them to approve a tax that would support the system’s construction and operation before heading to the polls.

For now, it’s unclear if the authority can leverage a tax large enough to construct each proposed route, a difficult task in a region that’s married to the automobile.

But, Calabrese said, it’s “important the first (rapid transit line) ... be the one with the greatest opportunity for success.”

“You’ve got to pick a corridor where you’re going to make it work,” he said.

Similar to Cleveland’s Euclid — lined with museums, schools, shopping, entertainment and more — the most likely candidate in metro Detroit is Woodward Avenue.

One of the biggest catalyst for new development, Calabrese said, is the HealthLine.

Constructed in 2008, the HealthLine replaced the city’s most heavily used bus route, he said. Operations were streamlined and improved quickly: The new system reduced the number of stops from 108 to 36, dropping travel times from 45 minutes to 32 minutes with vehicles that travel at roughly 35 miles per hour. Ridership jumped nearly 50 percent, and economic development skyrocketed.

Consider: A trip along the current Woodward route from Pontiac to Detroit provided by the Suburban Mobility Association for Regional Transportation bus system is roughly 90 minutes. If the proposed Woodward bus rapid transit line established similar improvements as HealthLine, the trip time would drop to an estimated 57 minutes.

Having less stops played a role in shortening travel times, said Mary Shaffer, a spokeswoman for the Cleveland authority, but the HealthLine’s proof of payment method had one of the biggest impacts to the system’s efficiency.

Similar to trains, riders pay their fare before stepping on the bus, expediting the process. Those looking to take advantage of a possible free ride should think twice, Shaffer said.

Transit police board the buses periodically and will occasionally ask riders to display their fare pass. Adults with no proof of purchase are issued a $125 fine; children receive a $25 or a verbal warning, Shaffer said.

“It’s not really worth taking the chance,” she said.

Buses run 24 hours a day and arrive every 15 minutes; during peak hours every 5 minutes. The rapid transit vehicles, with their futuristic, modern look, offer 20 feet more of room than buses previously used along the Euclid route.

The new vehicles come with a hefty price tag, Shaffer said: an estimated $600,000 each. But, she added, the authority has been able to shift resources elsewhere.

The HealthLine allowed the authority “to have less buses on the road,” Shaffer said, “and put more buses in other places you needed to go.”

From the onset of the $200 million HealthLine’s construction, Euclid became flush with economic activity. Calabrese said by the time it was operating in 2008, the authority estimated $2.5 billion of new investment had taken place along the corridor.

One of the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s reporters didn’t buy it.

The newspaper ended up doing its own research because they didn’t believe the number, Calabrese said.

Three weeks later, a front page story appeared on the Sunday edition under the headline “The Rebirth.”

Calabrese and the authority examined what took place only on Euclid Avenue; the newspaper considered investment on streets one block over in each direction, as well.

Five years later, Calabrese said the number is likely closer to $5 billion.

“The development didn’t happen because of (the authority),” Calabrese said. “It happened because other people leveraged what we did ... they took our $200 million development and said, ‘Now’s the time to expand.’ ”

Recent studies of bus rapid transit lines in the U.S., a country slow to adopting such systems compared worldwide, also offer positive signs.

A report on Pittsburgh’s system found properties located a thousand feet from a bus rapid transit station were worth roughly $10,000 less compared to some a hundred feet away, The Atlantic Cities reported. Condominium sales along Boston’s system, the Silver Line, had a 7.6 percent premium, something nonexistent before the rapid transit route was implemented.

Crime hasn’t been a concern on the HealthLine, either, Shaffer said. Each bus is equipped with 12 cameras and a set of microphones inside the rapid transit vehicle and along the exterior.

Residents that spoke with The Oakland Press spoke highly of the HealthLine.

“I ride it every day I work downtown,” said Sue Frounfelker, 57, of Cleveland.

Frounfelker, an executive assistant to architect firm Westlake Reed Leskosky, said she rides a train into the authority’s main transportation hub in downtown’s Public Square before hopping on the HealthLine to get to work.

The bus rapid transit system provides convenient access to her destinations and is “actually very timely,” Frounfelker said.

Shaffer said, having an efficient system offers Frounfelker and others the ability to relax before and after work, check emails, read the newspaper, take a nap — whatever they please.

Frounfelker offered another reason she feels like a benefactor:
“At least I don’t have to drive downtown.”

About the Author

Ryan Felton is a staff writer at The Oakland Press who covers Rochester, Rochester Hills, Oakland Township, transportation and technology. Blogging about Detroit at detroit.jalopnik.com. Reach the author at ryan.felton@oakpress.com
or follow Ryan on Twitter: @ryanfelton13.